While the Taxis come standard with regular taxi lights, some have rooftop advertisements for "WTF", "Banging Trash Can Lids for an Hour", Conjoined Twins, "The Science Of Crime", and Weazel News, both of which can detach in collisions. Both models contain a medallion on the front hood, which is used to indicate that New York City Taxi are licensed to pick up passengers; they also have a red marker on the back left. Vapid Taxis may also have yellow, grey or black bumpers.

Players can enter Taxis in GTA IV and, for a fee, take taxi rides to destinations.

GTA V

According to a pre-release screenshot of the game in gaming magazine GameInformer's Grand Theft Auto V preview in their December 2012 issue, taxis in Los Santos appear to be yellow and blue in color, which are based on Checker Taxi company. There will probably be more than one variant of the taxi though, and the colors may differ between them. Taxis appear to be modelled after a mix of a Ford Crown Victoria and a Chevrolet Caprice Classic.

Performance

GTA 1 — GTA 2

Early renditions of the Taxi are generally undesirable due to their mediocre performance. While differing between cities and partially based on muscle vehicles, GTA 1's taxis are generally slow, but compensate with good steering. In GTA 2 the opposite is the case, with moderate speed but sluggish controls, inferior to the Taxi Xpress. Both games' renditions have moderate crash endurance.

GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories

Although the appearance of the Taxi between GTA III and GTA Vice City Stories varies drastically, the Taxi's performance in all the games of this era may be described as all-round average. With moderate speed, moderate acceleration, light construction, moderate endurance, capable steering and stable cornering (all traits which are helpful during Taxi Driver missions), the Taxi is generally an acceptable vehicle to drive. The vehicle is also front wheel drive, reducing the chances of tailspins when cornering and allowing the vehicle to perform 180-degree turns backwards or forward with ease.

GTA IV

The DeclasseMerit-based taxi in GTA IV is powered by a V6, coupled to a 5 speed gearbox in a RWD layout. Acceleration is very good, and the top speed is above average. The brakes have been upgraded over the regular Merit, requiring a shorter stopping distance. The suspension has also had an upgrade, making this vehicle corner more effectively at speed. Crash deformation is acceptable, and the cab can survive a few frontal hits before failing.

The VapidPolice Cruiser-based Taxi is powered by a 4.6L V8, coupled to a 5 speed gearbox in a RWD layout. Acceleration is good, and the top speed is above average. Its braking and suspension are very good, identical to that of the Police Cruiser; ABS is standard, and the suspension easily handles cornering and smooths out the bumpy roads of Liberty City. Crash deformation is good, and the vehicle can sustain multiple frontal impacts before failing.

In GTA Vice City, Taxis have white spots on the windshield due to an error in applying the vehicle's reflection map.

In GTA III and GTA Vice City, Taxis may spawn without their lights on top. The roof will still glow as if there was a light there when Taxi missions are activated. In GTA IV, the taxi light can be broken off by impacts.

In GTA III, if you look carefully to the front grille of Taxi, you will see a manufacturer badge, which resembles the one that real-life car company Ford uses.

Taxi drivers tend to be vengeful, exiting their vehicle and assaulting the player if he or she damages their vehicle; they may pull the player out of their own vehicles, or throw punches if they meet the player on foot. In GTA IV, they hold onto the player's car door while he or she attempts to escape, until the gaining speed forces them to let go or they get knocked off by an object.

The GTA IV rendition of the Taxi originally had a black variant, as seen in the Vladimir Glebov trailer. The

The black cab that was going to be in the game, but removed later on.

reason for removing that texture was probably for one of Niko's lines for calling taxis while drunk;Yellow Car!.

In GTA IV, most taxi drivers are men, however, you can usually find a woman taxi driver in Hove Beach. This is probably a glitch, as the female taxi drivers have no taxi driver dialogue.

In Grand Theft Auto IV, the Vapid and Declasse Taxis have six different horns, differing in pitch with some with a high pitched, medium pitched, and lower pitched horns. The pitch determines how well and strong the horn sounds. The higher ranges usually are weak, mid-ranges usually have a somewhat over-blown or out of tune horn, while the lower pitches have healthy and loud horns. Five of the horns used can be traced back to civilian vehicles of different brands (such as Intruder, PMP 600, DF8-90, Primo, Patriot, etc).

In Grand Theft Auto IV, the lighted advertisment/"TAXI" signs on the roof of the taxis are very fragile as a minor collision is most cases is all it takes to dislodge the sign and have it break off the vehicle's roof.

In Grand Theft Auto IV, most of the taxi drivers are Greek. If a gun is pointed to them, they will say "I'm Greek, you know". They also can be heard cursing traffic in front of them with the Greek phrase "malaka", which is slang for numerous derogatory remarks.

Oddly if you slam into the rear of a taxi with a passenger in the backseat and kill the driver in the front seat, the passenger will climb out of the backseat and flee unharmed.

The turn signal in the Vapid Taxi is combined with the brake light, making it the only car in the game with a red turning light.

If you're taking a taxi ride in GTA IV and shoot outside the car, the driver will stop the car, make a comment and then run away, leaving Niko in the back seat of the stationary vehicle. This will also happen if the LCPD are chasing the player.

A Taxi can be seen in several screenshots and in Franklin's trailer for Grand Theft Auto V

Oddly, The Taxi is FWD, unlike its counterpart, the Police, which is RWD. However, in GTA 4, it's changed to RWD.

There is a glitch in GTA 4 when you read an email after exiting a taxi, the taxi drives off and the taxi driver disappears, the camera will follow the taxi as if you were driving it.

In GTA 2 NPC pedestrians may also use the Taxi services and jump into NPC controlled cabs as their lights are always on as if on the job. Like when in a player controlled cab, fares will get out of the Taxi if it stops for too long and it's light will come back on.

In GTA IV, on a super rare occasion, Taxis will somehow disappear or not spawn anywhere in Liberty City. This is possibly an error due to some unknown reason. This happens with the Cabby as well. This has been seen on the PS3 version. The only way to fix this is to complete a main mission, or restarting/loading the game.